Shipping carton for bottles



July 1, 1947- A. A. MAYER 2,423,332

SHIPPiNG CARTON FOR BOTTLES Filed Feb. 20, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR BY wga M ATTORNEY y 1947- A. A. MAYER SHIPPING CARTON FOR BOTTLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 20, 1945 INVENTOR. A/erzfl. M4981? BY '7 M A TmR/vEY Patented July 1, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT or Albert Mayer, Little Falls, N. 1., assignor to- John F. Trommer, Ina, Brooklyn, N. Y., a cor-- porationof New York Appiication February 20, 1945, Serial No. 578,854

This invention relates tocartons and more'particularly to shipping cartons for bottles.

The-object-ofthe invention is to provide a carton adapted to hold bottles for beverages, which carton may be readily closed and opened, and which, when closed, willserve to hold the bottles in compartments, or in spacedrelationship secure against breakage.

The invention consists in the interlocking of certain of the flaps of a carton with slots in certain oftheother flaps, the: flaps inserted through said slots; entering. the interior of'the carton and acting." to; separate. certain. of the bottles. The inventionprovides. in. addition. a compartment formingp'artition. for forming compartments in the; interior. of the. carton. and disposed: adjacent the inserted flaps and cooperating therewith.

The invention will be more fully described hereinafter, embodiments shown in the drawings, and the invention will be finally pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a prospective view of an embodiment of the invention with parts broken away;

Fig, 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a plan View, showing the lids open;

Fig. 5 is a section of a modified construction;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the separating partition;

Fig. '7 is a longitudinal section of a modified construction Fig. 8 is a fragmentary top view, and

Fig. 9 shows a plurality of cartons disposed in a container.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the various views.

Referrin to the drawings, the carton ill for eight bottles, as shown in Figure 1, is inserted into a container H, with the cover flaps of the carton bent down (Fig. 9), and three of such cartons are grouped in the container II, and then the lids I2 of the container are closed. This provides a container for shipping twenty-four bottles. With the cartons empty and the lids of the container open, the cartons can be readily filled by a bottle filling machine of the bottle maker, which machine fills the empty bottles into place. The beer bottler or brewer when he receives the container takes out the empties, fills them, and after passing them through the labelling machine, loads the cartons by means of a bottle filling machine. The cartons with the top flaps bent back are then placed into the container, and the lids of the container are closed. The container 1 Claim. (01.229-1'5) is: then delivered to the retailer, who opens the lid'sand' finds the tops: of" the cartons flush with the top of the'container. When acustomer pur chases acarton of bottles, the retailermay first exhibit the bottles and their labels, and then extracts a carton from the container, closesthe flaps thereof, and hands the closed carton to the customer.

Referring to Figures 1 to 5', eachcarton consists of'the usual fourrupright walls l3. Two opposed walls have opposed top and' bottom flaps M each with a. slot l5; and thetwo: other oppcsed walls have additional flapsv Hi;

When the bottom flaps I4 with their'slots; I15 have been moved to their closed position,,thebottomfiaps with their flaps: l6 are: then: moved to closing portion by passing the flaps [6 through the slots l5, until the adjacent flaps 16 are parallel with each other and protrude into the inside of the container. These parallel and upright flaps It then form a partition extending longitudinally of the carton and separate the bottles when in the carton, four on each side of the partition formed by the flaps l6.

Upon these flaps I6 is placed a bottle separating partition l1. This consists of one piece, bent into shape to form transverse barriers I8 between each transverse pair of bottles, the intervening webs l9 being arranged parallel with the inner side of the longitudinal wall I3 of the carton. The height of the partition is equal to the distance between the top edge of the lower flaps l6, and lower edge of the upper flaps Hi, When the latter are inserted. These upper flaps l6 are passed through the slots l5 of the upper flaps I4, and inserted into the inside of the container and then rest on, or contact with, the upper edges of the partition ll. This partition I! may be of any other suitable construction, but is held in position by the flaps l6 when these are inserted.

The essential feature is the provision of means 7 in one pair of fiaps to permit the entrance therethrough and holding thereby the additional flaps I6 of another pair of flaps to provide a convenient closure for a carton, and to act as a bottle separator for the bottles filled in the carton.

A modified form of construction of the bottle partition provides the extension of the partition I! to the full height of the interior of the carton. In this form, the partition I! is provided with slots 20 to be engaged by the flaps [6 when inserted, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. In another form of construction the partition I! is left unslotted and the flaps I6 are provided with slots 2|, which are engaged by the flaps l6 when inserted,

as shown in Figs. '7 and 8. In these figures, the flaps l4 have slots for the passage of the flaps [6.

Instead of two transverse, and four longitudinal bottles, other dispositions can be made.

In the embodiments shown, the height of the interior of the cartons is about the height of the bottles, in order that the top and bottom flaps hold the bottles at their tops and bottoms. The inserted additional flaps separate the bottles by acting as a wall in one direction of the carton contacting with the lower portions of the bottles. The partitions separate the bottles transversely. The cooperation of this wall and the partitions transversely thereto thereby serve to form one compartment for each bottle, in a manner preventing the bottles knocking against each other. The provision of one pair of opposite flaps of each carton with slots and the other pair of opposite flaps with additional bent over flaps to enter the slots, results in a quick closing and opening of a carton without the use of paste, or gummed strips or tying strings. Furthermore, a carton is provided which can be filled with empties at the bottle factory by a bottle filling machine, and the same carton can be filled with beverage filled bottles by bottle filling machinery at the brewery or bottling plant, the beverage filled bottles reaching the customers without the cartons being emptied.

I have described several forms of my invention, but obviously various changes may be made in the details disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention as set out in the follow ing claim.

I claim:

A shipping container for bottles having a closed 4 body portion forming an open top and bottom, and closing flaps each hinged to the top and bottom edges of each sidewall for closing the open top and bottom, the combination of an additional flap on each one of a pair of opposed flaps, each of a depth to extend vertically into the container sufficiently to form with its adjacent additional fla'p, a separator for the bottles, one at the top and one at the bottom, and a plurality of vertical partitions transverse to said separators and engaging said separators, the other pair of opposed flaps, each having a slot extending from the edge of the flap to its bottom near the hinge of the flap, the slots of the two opposed flaps being aligned and each having a width of substantially the two additional flaps, the distance between the bottoms of the aligned slots being equal to the length of the additional flap, the top and bottom flaps forming a closure for the container with the additional flaps and partitions forming compartments of the bottles, one separated from the other.

- Al'..BEl'-\,'I A. MAYER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,984,609 Walker et al Dec. 18, 1934 2,149,955 Burns Mar. '7, 1939 2,188,732 Vogt Jan. 30, 1940 Re. 18,245 Boeye Nov. 10, 1931 1,854,955 Reaume et a1 Apr. 19, 1932 1,859,537 Shofer May 24, 1932 

